Biotech Futures

The Mapping of the Human Genome is just the beginning.
Genomics, bioinformatics, Systems-Biology and Proteomics will
transform biotech into a evolutionary design science affecting
everything from health care to agriculture. Human performance
enhancement will be the largest market in the 21st century.

Synthetic tissue and
organisms, “friendly” biobots and bio-nanites, cybernetic
enhancements, cellular “repair” systems and biochip implants . .
. these are just a few of the applications already being
developed.

Molecular repair nanite
here, in this visualization, a bio-nanite travels down the axon
of a nerve cell, to re-construct insulating layer that has been
damaged due to neurological disease.

The “hardware” of modern genomics, in which “probes” of DNA
are bonded to the surface of a biochip. When DNA from a sample
material is “querried” by the ap-propriate receptor probes on the
chip’s surface, a hybridyzation event occurs, which can be
optically detected to signify the presence of a precise “genetic
marker”. The example shown here is the GeneChip developed by
Affymetrix.

The “wheel of life”, in the form of a proteomic
schematic, is the blueprint from which new geno-pharmacopia
solutions are being derived, eventually to provide solutions to
virtually all known diseases, perhaps even aging itself.

Neural prosthetics, implantable biochips, cybernetic
enhancement micro-devices . . . this was the stuff of science
fiction even just a few years ago, but is already in production,
and being provided in various forms to patients. The example
shown here is from a line of products being developed and
marketed by Medtronics. They are currently producing a variety of
devices, including neural implants to treat the effects of
epilpsy, and other neurological disorders.

Dendrimers, protein –
like molecules which can be used in a remarkable variety of ways
to mimic the behavior of proteins. Applications ranging from
cellular targeting and delivery systems to “smart” bioprobes are
well into development.

Where does current research and development go from here?
Advanced sensory and neural enhancement devices, neural
interconnect systems, micro and nano scale machines that patrol
the human body constantly repairing and updating various organs,
blood, tissue systems . . . this is just the beginning.

The ribosome, the nanofoundary of all living cells . . . here
in its natural form, is being probed, and eventually will be
hybrid engineered as the nanobiological machinery of
creation.

The “software” of biotech – protein Recombinant proteomics,
the ability to synthesize and construct proteins on demand, to
configure with any cellular system, any organism, as the
messengers and instruction sets for all living things, current,
and yet to be created.